From Joseph Banks to Ernest Rutherford and Beatrice Tinsley to Ingrid Visser, Atoms, Dinosaurs & DNA profiles 68 of New Zealand's most remarkable scientists. Among them are some of the earliest explorers and collectors, the first professional scientists, twentieth-century pioneers in emerging scientific disciplines and some of today's leading scientists who are continuing to make discoveries about our world and working to shape our future. Whether they measure the universe or the atom, work with whales or microbes, explore some of the world's most inhospitable places or persevere against all odds to discover the last survivors of a species considered extinct, each of the scientists profiled in this book is driven by a passion for their discipline and a desire to better understand the world around us. By presenting the life and work of each scientist in chronological sequence, this book also charts the history of science in New Zealand over the past two centuries. Atoms, Dinosaurs & DNA is based on a major science exhibition, curated by the authors and held at the National Library of New Zealand in 2006.